Chapter 32 - Laughter Before It All

To say that Lilith's excitement only made Raymond more upset would be a lie. He wanted to be upset, but seeing the way she was basically bursting at the seams, he could not bring himself to tell her to calm down.

His mother had just left, leaving him to steep in the terrible news that he was being crowned King a lot sooner than he thought. Raymond had thought that maybe he would need to spend time in the castle, and familiarize himself with the work that his father was doing prior to his death. But apparently, none of that was the top priority. His mother had emphasized that the longer the throne was empty, the more it was a sign of weakness. It was like a calling card for anyone who wanted to try and take over the monarchy.

Raymond thought it was absolutely ridiculous. He did not understand who would be foolish enough to try, but he did understand to some degree.

"You are a smart boy Raymond. An empty throne shows weakness and we cannot allow that. You can learn the ropes once you wear that crown on your head. I will not have this country fall just because of the foolish choice of one person." she said, sipping from the tea in her hand. "I have given you time to think about this. I told you what would happen and you should have prepared for this. We are all upset about the passing of the King and because of what Landon did, but now, moving on is what is best for all of us."

Why did she have to be right? Why did it have to be him? With all the time after coming to terms with the fact that he would not be able to escape his future, he also had to accept it. He had to acknowledge that it was coming, and then, he needed to prepare for it. And he did. Raymond did not want to be the King, but he will be and it took him going through multiple stages of grief before he accepted that it would actually happen.

And the reason Lilith was so happy was because he had told her that she would be there for his coronation. She had never seen one before and so instantly she erupted into a fit of questions and excited squeals.

"This is going to be magical. Definitely better than any coronation ever. This needs to be the biggest, grandest, shinest thing ever. Right?" She looked at him with sparkles in her eyes.

"Uhh, I'm sure it will be a very big event." Raymond nodded.

"Will there be food there?"

"That you cannot eat." He almost laughed at the way her face fell.

"Drat, I forgot about my servant status." She snapped her fingers. "Stuff your pockets full of anything you can get your hands on and I'll get it on the way back."

Lilith was six years younger than Raymond and in these moments he could only see her as an excited child. The way she lightly bounded on her heels and how her hands kept wringing the fabric of her dress.

"I'll be the King, I won't be going anywhere." he mused.

"Then... make it so that I won't get in trouble if I get caught stealing the food there."

"Don't be ridiculous Lilith." he rolled his eyes in order to hide his amusement. She was so childish.

"Alright, then, after all of it is over I'll take the food. But then it would be all cold." She swayed thoughtfully. "Did you know how many times I died during the banquet for your father's birthday? It was like I died... and went to hell because I could not eat any of that food."

Raymond just flipped through the papers on his desk. His original plan for the day was to come back to his office and be upset at life and do work to distract himself. But as soon as he sat down Lilith decided to share her obvious excitement with him and instead of being upset, his mood actually rose.

"When you're King, you'll be able to make a rule where it says that I get the remaining food."

"Is this all about food for you?"

"No, but if I have to witness a bunch of pompous noble people ignore food again when there are people out in the world starving, I'll... I'll do something." There was nothing Lilith could actually do. Maybe she could predict the future and then be labeled a witch and then have people fear her. She was sure they were past the pitchforks and torches era, so she should be fine.

"I would really like to see... something." he nodded to her.

"I can't believe I get to witness a real coronation." Lilith sighed. "I do feel bad for being excited about something you are dreading. But I can't help myself."

"And I just feel splendid, knowing that you do."

She smiled at him. "Everything will be alright. I helped you with that little problem with the working hours so maybe I can give you some help with all your Kingly work as well."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, it should not be too bad, you know, running a country and all that. Piece of cake." She winked at him.

"Would you like the position?"

"The position of King. Sure I'll take it."

Raymond almost laughed. "What would you do as the ruler of this country."

Lilith gave him a smug look. "I would lock up all the women so that they won't bother you anymore. And then I'll lock up most of the men because I'm sure a majority of them are sexist. And the rest will do all the heavy lifting and hard work. And then the universe will finally be balanced again."

Raymond stared at Lilith, his expression frozen between something of dumb shock and confusion. He had turned the conversation about her and yet still she mentioned something about him. And how ridiculous was it at that? Locking up all the women so that they won't bother him. How absurd. Raymond didn't even hate all women.

"That seems like a good plan." he nodded.

"I'm glad you agree, Your Grace." she gave him an exaggerated curtsy.

If Lilith was back in modern times, she was sure that the hashtag, #Raymonds_Future_Wife, would be trending all over the country because of how crazy people were. News of the upcoming coronation hit the public and of course, speculation on who is eligible to be the Queen of the country was the number one trending topic. People on Twitter trending the hashtag and coming up with a bunch of theories as to why Raymond does not have anyone of interest in his life and people on Youtube making videos about the women who would look the best with him.

And the fanfiction. Oh. My. God. If this was all happening in modern times, the fanfiction would be relentless. Creona had a population of about seventy-two million people. The country was freaking huge and the chaos that would ensue had Lilith sighing in relief. Shamefully she knew that she would take a peek at the fanfiction but she definitely would not go near writing it.

And when it actually came the time to have Raymond meet people, she would be laughing to the side. The interactions would honestly be so funny. She already had the pleasure of witnessing how he avoided talking to the servants that tried to charm him. Raymond could be so stone dead sometimes and witnessing someone who was trying too hard with him would honestly be gold.

Chuckling to herself a bit, Lilith was too absorbed in her thoughts to remember where she was. Raymond watched as she cleaned the books on the shelves. Her back was turned to him and she held the duster in her hand, passing it over the books. He cracked a fraction of a smile at her laugh.

He wondered when he would tell her that she does not need to dust the books every day.